Catalogue description LAMBETH HOSPITAL

For further information on the history of the hospital see Lambeth Hospital Fifty Years Retrospect by P.J. Watkin (ref. H01/L/Y/02/001), and the letter written by Mr B.S. Dobb, Hospital Secretary on 19 May 1970 (ref. H01/L/Y/03/001).

The Greater London Record Office also has in its care the archives of Lambeth Board of Guardians, the London County Council, Lambeth Group Hospital Management Committee, St Thomas' Hospital, St Thomas' Health District (Teaching), West Lambeth Health Authority and King Edward's Hospital Fund for London, which all include records relating to Lambeth Hospital. Major classes of records concerning the administration of the hospital are listed below.

Other minute books of the Lambeth Group Hospital Management Committee are in the care of Wandsworth Health Authority at Springfield Hospital. - now deposited in London Metropolitan Archives

Renfrew Road Workhouse, 1871-1922

Lambeth Infirmary, 1876-1922

Lambeth Hospital, 1922-1964

The main part of the archives of Lambeth Hospital were transferred to the Greater London Record Office on 20 December 1967. Additional records have been transferred between 1985 and 1991 (Acc 2109, Acc 2207, Acc 2258, Acc 2294, Acc 2684, Acc 2901 and Acc 2931).

• Lambeth, London
• Patients
• Mental diseases

Lambeth Hospital had its origin in two institutions both built and administered by Lambeth Board of Guardians. These were Renfrew Road Workhouse opened in 1871 and Lambeth Infirmary, opened in 1876 on an adjoining site, but with its main entrance in Brook Drive. By 1922 the Lambeth Guardians had an excess of accommodation for the able bodied poor and too little for the sick. Consequently they amalgamated the two institutions under the control of the medical superintendent and matron of the infirmary, which was renamed Lambeth Hospital.

Lambeth Hospital now provided the following services and facilities - a lying-in ward (until 1922 accommodated in Renfrew Road Workhouse), an antenatal clinic, V.D. wards, two large observation wards, two weekly sessions by an ophthalmic surgeon, a pathological laboratory (the first pathologist, Dr J.R. Perdrau was appointed in 1916), and radium and deep X-Ray apparatus. The Lambeth Guardians not only purchased the necessary equipment, but sent Dr George Stebbing on a tour of European capitals to study radiotherapy.

As a result of the 1929 Local Government Act, from 1930 Lambeth Hospital came under the control of the London County Council. The L.C.C. sought to create an integrated hospital service for London, concentrating certain specialised departments in particular hospitals. Lambeth Hospital lost its observation wards, but the development of the Radiotherapy Department was encouraged. Mr Stebbing was appointed Surgeon specialist and Medical Officer in charge of the Radiotherapy Department. A Cardio-Vascular Unit was formed at Lambeth Hospital under the direction of Lord Dawson of Penn with Mr Lawrence O'Shaughnessy and Dr H.E.M. Mansell as medical officers. In the early 1930s a Uterine Cancer Unit was transferred from the North Western Hospital to Lambeth Hospital with its Medical Director, Sir Comyns Berkeley, and Mr Arnold Walker. A few years later Mr Stebbing absorbed the unit into the Radiotherapy Department. The London County Council built a Nurses' Home in 1936, provided a new Maternity Block in 1938, and completed a Pathology Block in 1940. By 1939 Lambeth Hospital could accommodate 1,250 patients and was one of the three largest municipal hospitals in London.

During the Second World War many air raid casualties were treated at the hospital, from which elderly, long term patients had been evacuated. Several bombs fell on the hospital killing ten members of staff and destroying two ward blocks, the kitchen, dining rooms and laundry. Three other ward blocks were badly damaged.

In 1948 Lambeth Hospital became part of the National Health Service administered by the South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. It formed part of the Lambeth Group of hospitals, together with the South Western Hospital, South London Hospital for Women and Children, Annie McCall Maternity Hospital, and, from 1956, the Royal Eye Hospital. Money for the repair and replacement of war damaged buildings was, at first, scarce, but between 1960 and 1962 a new two storey block containing kitchens, dining rooms, and offices was constructed.

In July 1964 the Lambeth Group of hospitals was dissolved. Lambeth Hospital became part of the St Thomas' Hospital Group, and then from 1974, part of the St Thomas' Health District (Teaching). In 1970 Lambeth Hospital was an acute, general hospital with 468 beds. A new twin operating theatre block had been completed in 1967 and a new Renal Unit opened in 1969. The hospital closed in 1976 on the opening of the new North Wing of St Thomas' Hospital. On part of the site of the hospital in Monkton Street, the Lambeth Community Care Centre was completed in 1985.

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